News Release 1 Elyria Catholic vs. Oberlin

The Scholastic Games radio quiz, featuring academic teams from Lorain County high schools, began its series of weekly programs on WEOL (AM 930) on Monday with Oberlin High School scoring a 410 to 160 win over Elyria Catholic.

Bertoni, right, is congratulated by program host Jim Mehrling

Oberlin was represented by Risa Jackson, Ario Thompson and team captain Nicole Bertoni, with Bertoni earning the program’s “Standout Scholar Award,” a $50 prize given to the student judged to have contributed the most to his or her team. Elyria Catholic’s team consisted of Elizabeth Parkey, Nicholas Ziegelmeyer, and team captain Ivelysse Gracia.

In the early rounds the teams were very close in score. After the first round, Oberlin had a ten point advantage, but that was followed by the Current Events Round in which Elyria Catholic advanced to a 30 point lead. In Round Three, the buzz-in theme round with questions about islands of the world, ended with a tied socre.

The multi-clue fourth round followed, in which a correct answer to the first clue yields fifty points and a final clue provides only ten, only two of five items brought correct answers. However it was Oberlin’s Bertoni who scored with both, including a maximum 50 points from what producers considered a fairly obscure clue about the history of the loom. Oberlin entered the final round with a 170 to 110 lead and seemed to catch fire in the final round, maintaining the lead to the end, Bertoni leading the way.

In weeks to come, at least fourteen more of Lorain County’s public and private high schools will compete, leading up to the broadcast’s annual county championship. The program, sponsored by the Educational Service Center of Lorain County with foundation support, will be heard most Monday evenings (6:05 to 7 p.m.) with two schools in competition each week. Next week’s competitors will be Vermilion High School and Amherst Marion L. Steele.

The teams are guided by faculty advisors. Jason Craigo is the advisor for the Oberlin team and Michael Brown advises the Elyria Catholic team. Continuing a 28-year tradition, each participating school will receive a $1000 tuition credit to be given to a deserving student that will attend an area college or university. Many additional credits are awarded to schools as they compete and win in playoffs. Contributing institutions include Lorain County Community, Baldwin Wallace University, Oberlin College, Ursuline College, Ashland University, Case Western Reserve, Heidelberg, John Carroll, Lake Erie College, Notre Dame College of Ohio, the University of Findlay, and Tiffin University, many of which have participated in this program for a number of years.

Scholastic Games, on WEOL radio since 1990, is presented on the station by the Elyria Public Library System. Monday’s program was dedicated to the memory of the late Charles J. King, a principal writer and judge with the program for the last 28 years. Production of the program is made possible by funding from the charter sponsor, the Nordson Corporation, the Nord Family Foundation, the Community West Foundation, and the following funds administered by the Community Foundation of Lorain County: the William J. and Flora Hearn Durling Fund, the Dorothy and Elizabeth King MemorialCharitable Fund, the Ridge Tool Company Fund, and the Bowers Family Fund. The Elyria Hampton Inn and Suites provided the recording venue for Monday’s program and following broadcast, weol.com and standoutscholars.com will offer the programs as “podcasts.”

A member of the Broadcasters Hall of Fame of Akron and Cleveland, the program’s producer, Jim Mehrling, is a veteran northeast Ohio broadcaster. After seven years as Chief Announcer at WEOL, he was Production Manager at Cleveland’s WERE-AM for over a decade, and has for over twenty years been with Cleveland’s WCLV-FM, now a part of Ideastream public broadcasting. Again this year, most Scholastic Games programs will be followed by a talk feature, “Dialogues in Education,” which presents education success stories with its host, award-winning journalist Bob Tayek.